Chris Kibbey, Section Head of Primates at Cotswold Wildlife Park, said: “Who doesn't love Easter? Chicks, Lambs, nice weather and of course Easter eggs. This Easter week seemed the ideal time to give our group of Meerkats some decorated eggs as enrichment.

"The Ostrich eggs have mealworms inside and the Chicken eggs are hard boiled. By rolling the eggs around, the Meerkats need to work hard to receive their reward. This keeps them busy and helps stimulate them.”

Jake is up for adoption at the rehoming centre in Reading Credit: Dogs' Trust

Homeless dogs in Berkshire are being treated to their very own Easter egg hunt - with no chocolate involved.

Staff at the Dogs Trust centre in Plumb Farm have hidden Easter toys for the dogs to sniff out and fetch.

Remy is one of the dogs taking part in the Easter fun Credit: Dogs' Trust

Jenny Hopkins, Assistant Rehoming Centre Manger, says: “We have lots of sprightly dogs at the centre who need to burn off energy so we thought we’d create a fun Easter game for them to enjoy and help them practice their recall too.

"We would like to remind everyone about the dangers of leaving chocolate around for dogs to consume. It is extremely toxic to dogs because it contains the chemical theobromine which can cause poisoning."

Passengers travelling to and through Southampton are reminded to check before they travel at weekends between now and May as Network Rail will be carrying out extensive planned improvement work to increase the reliability of the railway in the Southampton area.

The £20m improvements to the railway will improve the reliability of trains through Southampton and the surrounding areas. However, in order to carry out the work, there will be disruption to trains using Southampton Central station over eight weekends.

They'll include the Easter bank holiday weekend, starting March 15 and finishing on May 4. These include services from South West Trains, Cross Country, Southern and First Great Western.

This is a vital programme of investment to improve the reliability of train services for Southampton and the surrounding region. The work takes place on weekends from March 15 until early May, with each weekend seeing different service changes on lines to and from Southampton Central. Please make sure that you check before you travel. We recognise that this is not ideal and we are sorry for the inevitable disruption that will be caused to our passengers. We have sought to keep disruption to a minimum whilst we undertake this essential work."

They're a treat most of us enjoy but they can be lethal if they're eaten by dogs. Easter eggs, and in fact many types of chocolate, contain a chemical which can make family pets seriously ill. Last year vets at one charity treated 400 dogs which became unwell. Richard Jones reports.